Why Study Philosophy?

Philosophy is one of the best ways of enriching your life, even as it prepares you
for life.

Philosophy is one of the best ways of enriching your life, even as it prepares you
for life.

It makes a substantial contribution to your expressive powers.

It enhances your self-knowledge, foresight, and sense of direction in life.

It provides special pleasures of insight to your reading and conversation.

It can lead to self-discovery, an expansion of consciousness, and self-renewal.

It nurtures individuality and self-esteem.

It brings you into contact with the most important and fundamental human questions.

It helps you to live a more fully human life by demanding that you confront these
questions.

Philosophy's critical skills offer the best defense against foolishness and falsehoods.

Philosophy's critical skills offer the best defense against foolishness and falsehoods.

It allows you to see through cultural and intellectual fads.

It protects you from the often empty posturing of politicians.

It insulates you from the often inane prattling of media pundits and commentators.

It defends you from the slippery claims of advertisers and salespeople.

It protects you from foolish opinions and everyday nonsense.

Philosophy is one of the most practical majors in college.

Philosophy is one of the most practical majors in college.

It imparts skills that will be valued by any future employer.

It enhances your problem-solving capacities by contributing to your ability to organize
ideas and issues, and to extract what is essential from masses of information.

It helps you to distinguish between different viewpoints and to discover common ground
among them.

It helps you to appreciate a variety of perspectives so they can be synthesized into
a unified whole.

It helps to eliminate ambiguities and vagueness from your speech, and enables you
to present what is distinctive about your position through the use of systematic argumentation.

It develops your ability to explain and communicate difficult material.

It enhances your persuasive powers by providing training in the construction of clear
formulations, good arguments, and apt examples that allow you to forcefully articulate
and defend your points of view.

It teaches good interpretive, comparative, argumentative, and descriptive writing
skills that will allow you to communicate ideas in a clear and powerful way.

Philosophy is uniquely well-suited to preparing students for law, business and graduate
school.

Philosophy is uniquely well-suited to preparing students for law, business and graduate
school.

Philosophy's lessons of analytical thinking, clear expression, and good writing are
indispensable to the graduate student in any discipline, including law and business.Philosophy majors also do extraordinarily well on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).
Among students taking the LSAT in 2007-8 to enter law school in 2008-9, philosophy
majors tied with economics majors for the second highest average score (157.4) among
29 discipline groupings. The highest average score (160) was among physics/math majors.1

Philosophy students have a long track record of performing exceptionally well on the
Graduate Record Examination (GRE), a requirement for pursuing graduate degrees in
a wide range of disciplines. According to the most recent statistics provided by the
Educational Testing Service, philosophy students have the highest mean verbal GRE
score (591) and analytical writings score (4.8) of any major. They also have the 16th
highest mean quantitative GRE score (629) out of the 51 discipline groupings, besting
even accounting, business administration and management, and the biological sciences.2

Business schools use the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) to measure potential
for success in graduate programs such as those leading to the M.B.A. Philosophy majors
typically outscore nearly all other undergraduates on the GMAT, including business
majors. In the year 2010-2011, philosophy majors taking the GMAT earned a mean total
score of 599, the third highest out of all majors. Only mathematics and physics students
did better.3

"Humanities Majors: Doing Better than You Might Think"Washington Monthly, January 24, 2014."Humanities majors may earn an average of $5,000 less than professionals and pre-professionals
right out of college ... but they make an average of $2,000 more by the time they
reach their 40s..."

"Be employable, study philosophy"Salon, July 1, 2013."The discipline teaches you how to think clearly, a gift that can be applied to just
about any line of work ..."

"Liberal arts majors are very hirable"WCF Courier, April 1, 2012."[W]e believe that higher education’s purpose is to further the development of persons
by enhancing understanding of human intellectual and cultural accomplishments and
by developing skills in the areas of critical thinking and writing. There is a profound
difference, even an ethical difference, between viewing persons as recipients of education
and as the subjects of training..."

"A Liberal Education: Preparation for Career Success "The Huffington Post, December 6, 2011."[A]s a former CEO with more than 30 years in management at a Fortune 50 firm, I can
offer [this] advice ... pursue a liberal arts education. For most people, it's the
best foundation for a successful career..."

"The Value of a Philosophy Graduate"BOR Academic Advisory Committee for Philosophy, December, 2011."The popular notion that the study of philosophy has little practical or economic
value is demonstrably false. This document shows that undergraduate training in philosophy
is of great practical and economic value, both to students who earn Bachelor’s degrees
in philosophy and to the State of Georgia..."

"Study of Philosophy Makes Gains Despite Economy"Philadelphia Inquirer, October 15, 2011."In an era in which chronic unemployment seems to demand hard skills, some students
are turning to an ancient study that they say prepares them not for a job, but for
the multiple jobs they expect to hold during their lifetimes..."

"Want Innovative Thinking? Hire from the Humanities"Harvard Business Review, March 31, 2011."As Amos Shapira, the CEO of Cellcom, the leading cell phone provider in Israel, put
it: "The knowledge I use as CEO can be acquired in two weeks...The main thing a student
needs to be taught is how to study and analyze things (including) history and philosophy..."

"Philosophy Valued At One Community College"National Public Radio, January 4, 2011."As state universities cut back on humanities programs in order to deal with budget
shortfalls, LaGuardia Community College in Queens, N.Y., is going in the opposite
direction..."

"Philosophy is Back in Business"BusinessWeek, January 12, 2010."The financial and climate crises, global consumption habits, and other 21st-century
challenges call for a 'killer app.' I think I've found it: philosophy..."

"Finding Equality Through Logic"National Public Radio'sThis I Believe, August 3, 2008."Philosophy gave me permission to use my mind and the inspiration to aim high in my
goals for myself. Philosophy allowed me to dare to imagine a world in which man can
reason his way to justice, women can choose their life's course, and the poor can
lift themselves out of the gutter. Philosophy taught me that logic makes equals of
us all..."

"In a New Generation of College Students, Many Opt for the Life Examined"New York Times, April 6, 2008."Philosophy is being embraced at Rutgers and other universities by a new generation
of college students who are drawing modern-day lessons from the age-old discipline
as they try to make sense of their world, from the morality of the war in Iraq to
the latest political scandal..."

"I Think, Therefore I Earn"The Guardian, November 20, 2007."Lucy Adams, human resources director of Serco, a services business and a consultancy
firm, says: 'Philosophy lies at the heart of our approach to recruiting and developing
our leadership, and our leaders. We need people who have the ability to look for different
approaches and take an open mind to issues. These skills are promoted by philosophical
approaches.' ..."

What Can I Do with This Major?"Leave your preconceptions at the door! Philosophy delivers highly marketable, highly
transferable skills. If your ideal career requires thinking, talking, or writing,
we'll help you prepare..."

Why Study Philosophy?University of Southern California."Philosophy prepares you for the kind of rigorous thinking and critical analysis used
in a wide variety of fields. You might be surprised at how well the average mid-career
salaries of philosophy majors compare to those of other popular majors..."

How Does Philosophy Relate to My Career?Wilfrid Laurier University."People today often emphasize 'marketability' when they talk about a university education.
... If marketability means learning what will make you an attractive candidate for
employment, then philosophy has a great deal to offer..."

What Can I Do with a Humanities Degree?University of Central Florida."Probably the most common question prospective humanities majors ask is 'What good
is a humanities degree? I really enjoy what I am studying, but I need to be concerned
about getting a job. What can I do with a humanities degree?' This question looks
like one question, but it really disguises several related ones. Distinguishing them
will allow us to answer each of them more clearly..."